“There was a sharp upturn in conversions since Burning Hearts started.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Burning Hearts House of Prayer is celebrating more than 1,000 consecutive nights of prayer and worship. The celebration service, January 14, starting at 6 p.m., also serves to kick off City on our Knees, an annual initiative aimed at starting the new year with a week of prayer for Ottawa.

“We are going to be praying, sharing testimonies of what God has done, and we’ll be having two teams do the worship,” says Burning Hearts founder, Nahia Haddad. “We are doing our anniversary and we’ll be having a time of prayer for our city; for special needs like the homeless, the addicted, and our youth who are overdosing on drugs.”

Burning Hearts started three years ago as an open invitation for all believers to seek God and grow in prayer. Burning Hearts meets at East Gate Alliance Church, but the leadership involves people from many different churches.

Photo courtesy of Burning Hearts House of Prayer.

“The vision is uniting the Body and also to cause the Body to turn back to our first love. A lot of people do a lot of stuff, but God is calling us to Himself—in deep relationship,” Haddad states. “My heart’s desire is to see the Body working together and building our faith so we can be ready for the coming of the Lord.”

When Haddad first raised the idea of a house of prayer at the church, East Gate Senior Pastor Bill Buitenwerf did not have high expectations of the outcome.

“I asked her to clarify for how long a period of time she was thinking. I thought she was thinking a week or maybe a month of daily prayer, but she said, ‘Well, always.’ My immediate thought was, ‘That will be short lived.’ Well, sure enough, it has been a work of God that has greatly impacted our church and our city.”

Buitenwerf says Christians often talk about the power of prayer, but fail to actually stop and pray. Both he and Haddad have seen a clear difference since the daily prayer began.

“It is my belief that Burning Hearts was God’s way of helping us repair a prayer foundation for our church and hopefully other churches in Ottawa.”

“It has definitely lifted up our faith,” Haddad states. “I have found myself staying to worship and pray sometimes until 10 because I get so into it. I know that God is doing a lot of work. People have come back and said they are healed. We have had a lot of people come back and say God has touched them and they are encouraged.”

“The biggest impact has been on the number of people coming to know the Lord through ministries at the church,” says Buitenwerf. “This is a work of the Lord and I don’t think it is coincidental that there was a sharp upturn in conversions since Burning Hearts started.

“It is my belief that Burning Hearts was God’s way of helping us repair a prayer foundation for our church and hopefully other churches in Ottawa.”

God has also been answering the prayer for unity. The worship and Tuesday-night teaching sessions feature leaders from many different churches and styles. Christians are truly coming together to seek the face of God.

“I’m seeing unity more across the Body of Christ in Ottawa,” says Haddad. “Having it going for three years, every night, and God providing intercessors from across the city, from different churches, who come and help and lead prayer, it’s bringing unity.”